(Source: Business Wire)Navigation Capital Partners (NCP), an Atlanta-based middle market private equity firm, has teamed with Robert Shively to target acquisition opportunities to build an industry leader in the Intelligent Infrastructure sector. NCP is seeking companies that, when combined, will enable the integration of services, software and hardware to offer a set of products that significantly improves operating results, increases productivity and reduces waste. Target vertical markets include energy management, water management, asset/fleet management and traffic management.

Shively has joined NCP's "Executive-in-Residence" program to help lead the search. NCP's "Executive-in-Residence" program is the firm's approach to identify experienced leadership within an industry attractive for investment, and then search as a team for the right companies to acquire. NCP has also engaged investment banking firm TM Capital Corp., with offices in Atlanta, Boston and New York, to support this initiative.

Companies in the Intelligent Infrastructure space have organized mainly by industry verticals - utilities, municipalities, water and wastewater sectors - but the NCP team believes significant value and economic benefits exist by cross-pollinating products and services across these sectors. Large-scale owners of disparate infrastructure (wires, pipes, roads, etc.) have a need to track critical information in order to optimize their investments and reduce waste. Centralizing the necessary monitoring services (such as data collection, organization, hosting, analyzing and reporting), software solutions and business services within a single integrated solution could improve both utilization and management of infrastructure investment.

"The need to manage resources, reduce waste and replace outdated infrastructure has never been greater, and the technology for that management has never been more accessible and affordable," said Larry Mock, managing partner of NCP. "By combining industry experts in services, software and hardware, we plan to create an industry leader offering an all-in-one option to the marketplace."

One representative opportunity is in energy management, with the "smart grid" concept for modernizing the nation's aging electricity infrastructure. According to a report* by GP Bullhound Ltd., an independent technology research firm, the "smart grid" is defined as combining "network communications, analytics, feedback and control" for power grid systems with goals of improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact.